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Jim Roddey
Also known as James Roddey and James C. Roddey Background James C. Roddey was elected as Allegheny County's first Chief Executive. Roddey is a Republican. Roddey had many ups and downs as Allegheny County's Chief Executive. He has had a long, distinguised career as a public official and enterpreneur. In 2001, Roddey, while in office as Allegheny County Executive, and while a resident of the City of Pittsburgh, refused to sign the petition to enable Mark Rauterkus onto the ballot as a Republican for the Mayor's race. In the ballot petitioning period, Rauterkus, like all candidates, needed signatures from registered voters in the party to get onto the ballot. On the first minutes of the petitioning period, Rauterkus went to Roddey's office with his petition and persisted. The request from Roddey was denied because of the public stance from Mark Rauterkus concerning the proposed sell-off of the public telivision station, 16, WQEX. Rauterkus had joined with others to advocate for the stewardship of QEX as a re-energized public asset. Roddey had been a board member of QED, along with Elsie Hillman and others. QED had burned a lot of money and was in serious debt. Roddey was not able to win re-election as County Executive. Roddey was appointed to the ICA Board to help with financial oversight. Rauterkus spoke before the ICA Board on a couple of occasions on various matters while Roddey was a board member. Roddey moved off of the ICA Board after moving out of the city. Today his role is that of an advisor. Media Biz move in 2008 Roddey joins McCrory & McDowell : Pittsburgh Business Times - by Anya Litvak in September 2008 Jim Roddey, a former Allegheny County chief executive and the man who led Allegheny County through its home rule adoption process, has joined local accounting firm McCrory & McDowell LLC as a senior consultant. Roddey was a leading force in abolishing the county’s three-commissioner governing system in favor of a 15-member council and a chief executive post, which he held for its first four years. Roddey, a Republican, lost his reelection campaign to Democrat Dan Onorato in 2003. During his term, Roddey led a county-wide reassessment effort that raised property values and increased tax revenue to the county by the maximum 5 percent allowed under the county code. Many, including Roddey himself, attributed his reelection defeat to fallout from higher property taxes. A North Carolina native, Roddey graduated from Texas Christian University and served as a captain in the U.S. Marine Corps before embarking on a business career that included top posts at ten different companies and memberships in more than 30 nonprofit boards. Among several other civic obligations, Roddey currently serves as president of the board of RiverQuest, a nonprofit educational riverboat program. He has lived in Pittsburgh since 1979. McCrory & McDowell’s Managing Principal Mike McDowell said the company is eager to implement Roddey’s expertise in its Dewey & Kaye nonprofit division, as well as the firm’s business consulting practice. The company’s other divisions include accounting, tax, Diversified Medical Management (healthcare industry consultants) and the Three Rivers Institute (leadership development & facilitation consultants). The firm has served the Pittsburgh market since 1951. PG coverage from 2006 : Source: Friday, July 21, 2006, By Tom Barnes, Post-Gazette Harrisburg Bureau HARRISBURG -- Since arriving in Pittsburgh in the late 1970s, businessman James C. Roddey has held many titles: Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority chairman, Port Authority (PAT) chairman and Allegheny County chief executive, among others. Now he's got a new one: slot machine mogul. New Century Entertainment, a firm Mr. Roddey formed with several other prominent Pittsburghers to buy slot machines from manufacturers and resell them to casinos, was approved to get a state distributor license yesterday by the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board. Others involved in the so-called middleman company include WQED Multimedia President George Miles; African American Chamber of Commerce President Doris Carson Williams; Mike Fetchko, a sports marketing company president; and Harrisburg lobbyist Neely Frye. The Gaming Control Board also approved licenses yesterday for three other slot machine suppliers/distributors: CGR Gaming Associates, KGM Gaming and Liberty Gaming Distributors, all from Philadelphia. One of CGR's principals is Pennsylvania Turnpike Commissioner Mitchell Rubin; one of KGM's principals is Robert N. Nix, son of a former state Supreme Court justice; and Liberty Gaming has connections to a prominent Harrisburg lobbyist, Stephen Wojdak. The board's action yesterday brings to 15 the number of distributors/suppliers that have been approved for operation in Pennsylvania. Each must pay the board a $25,000 licensing fee. None of the New Century principals could be reached for comment yesterday. The board didn't give reasons why it had approved any of the distributor applicants, but New Century didn't hurt its chances by having serious participation by minorities and by saying it would use much of its profits to benefit minorities. More than 25 percent of New Century consists of minority owners; they plan to give 20 percent of revenue to a half dozen groups, such as the African-American Cultural Center, and another 30 percent to groups favored by individual partners. Many legislators, especially House Democrats, have said they want to make sure that minority- and women-owned firms benefit from casino business, not just firms owned by white men. The gaming board still has not acted on distributor license applications from two other firms that include prominent politicians, one with former Pittsburgh Councilman Sala Udin and the other with former Lt. Gov. Mark Singel. Each distributor licensed by the state must now establish a business relationship with companies that manufacture gaming machines, and also a relationship with the casinos that will be created in Pennsylvania. Mr. Roddey, who couldn't be reached yesterday, has said he's had talks with International Game Technology, the largest slot machine manufacturer in the world, with about 70 percent of the market. Each distributor must also find warehouse space sufficient to house the slot machines until they are shipped to casinos. Seven of the new casinos will eventually be located at racetracks; five will be in stand-alone, or non-track, locations, including one somewhere in Pittsburgh; and two will be at resort hotels, likely to be Nemacolin Woodlands in Fayette County and Seven Springs Mountain Resort in Somerset County. When the Legislature, in July 2004, approved the law creating 14 casinos in the state, it included a requirement that they buy equipment from these middleman firms called distributors. Pennsylvania is the only state that requires its casinos to buy their gambling machines from these intermediaries rather than directly from manufacturers. Critics see the middlemen firms as just a way for politically connected people to get a piece of the casino profits. State Sen. Jane Orie, R-McCandless, is trying to get rid of the requirement for distributors. In June, she persuaded the Senate to eliminate them, but the House didn't go along. Advocates of suppliers said they will create new companies and several hundred new jobs in Pennsylvania. Suppliers will not only sell the slots to casinos but also service machines that malfunction and update casinos when newer machines come out. (Harrisburg Bureau Chief Tom Barnes can be reached at tbarnes@post-gazette.com or 1-717-787-4254. ) New Century is committed to public service, not personal gain I am writing in response to the July 23 "Asides" editorial regarding my involvement in obtaining a license to distribute gaming machines. First, let me state that I am not an advocate for gaming in Pennsylvania nor do I believe that having distributors (often referred to as "middlemen") is a necessary part of the system. I have never lobbied for either gaming or distributorships and, in fact, have never spoken to anyone on the gaming control board or its staff or to any person in the governor's office regarding this matter. After learning that Pennsylvania was to have gaming distributors and that the stated purpose was to create jobs and opportunities for minority involvement, I joined with several others to form a company to obtain a distributorship license to serve those stated purposes. More than 25 percent of the ownership of our company, New Century Entertainment, is held by minorities. The company's chair and vice chair are both minorities. I hold approximately 15 percent of the ownership. New Century has committed to a goal of 40 percent minority hiring and has further committed to donate 20 percent of the net proceeds of the company to minority-oriented, nonprofit organizations. In addition, individual owners of New Century have pledged to select nonprofit organizations to receive all, or a substantial portion, of their proceeds. I have pledged 100 percent of my share to charity. The shareholders of New Century have a remarkable record of service to the community. Collectively they sit on more than 40 nonprofit boards. They also serve on numerous private sector boards. New Century does not oppose the elimination of distributorships nor will we take any active role in trying to preserve that portion of the Pennsylvania gaming law. If, however, the state government keeps the distributorships we do feel that our plan to employ minorities and give a majority of our net proceeds to charity is a better plan than that of those who seek to reap personal gain from gaming. If one reads the articles and the editorial by the Post-Gazette one would conclude that I am the sole organizer and principal owner of New Century and that I stand to personally profit from the venture. None of those are correct. For most of the past 28 years that I have been in Pittsburgh I have been dedicated to improving Pittsburgh, Allegheny County and southwestern Pennsylvania. To now be portrayed by the Post-Gazette as trying to profit personally from gaming is disappointing. JAMES C. RODDEY, Oakmont